Italians outraged over French reinvention of national dish

Italians have been left spluttering into their spaghetti over a French attempt to reinvent their treasured national dish, Pasta alla Carbonara, as a quick “one-pot” meal. A video demonstrating the recipe has been viewed 1.3 million times and has gone viral in Italy, where thousands of people have shared it on social networks with mocking comments such as “stick to the frogs legs” and “you’ve already got the Mona Lisa, leave the Carbonara alone”.

The 36-second video shows pasta being boiled in the same saucepan as lardons of bacon — a travesty for Italians. They were further outraged by the addition of onions and crème fraîche to the recipe. The final insult comes when the video ends with a raw egg being plopped on top of the cooked dish.

According to a long-standing Italian tradition, carbonara is made with spaghetti, bacon, eggs, Pecorino cheese and freshly ground pepper. Italians say the French version gets everything wrong, both the ingredients and the method.

Such is the horror inspired by the new Gallic take on their traditional dish, that Italians are dubbing it “carbonara-gate” and some have even — tongue in cheek — urged the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, to intervene.

“Five minutes silence for the death of carbonara in France,” commented a Facebook group called ‘Sai coma manga?’ (how do you eat?). “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”. Read more